The Workout Of The Day for Sunday, 12.18.11. – “The Hills Have (quite small) I’s”

Howdy folks,

Hey… if you did yesterday’s workout, you might be feeling a bit gassed today.

If you are, you might not want to do today’s… in fact, you might be better off taking it easy today.

You need to remember, if you’re gunning for Nationals or Worlds, you’re pretty darn close to the end of your build period, and odds are your time is going to be taken up with Holiday insanity at the tail end of the week, so you’ve got some rest coming up.

It might just be OK to go a little out on a limb with the workload this weekend… you’ve still got a little bit of time.

Anyways…

Feeling great? Motivated to do some work today?

Nice.

Taht being the case, today you’re hitting the road (or the trail!) and doing –

The Hills Have (quite small) “I”s

(“I” is for “intensity.”)

Warm up, ideally in the course of a ride out to some pretty darn hilly terrain.

Find a hill – or a series of hills – that will take you 2-5 minutes to climb at pretty darn close to race pace.

Hit the base of the climb hard, out of the saddle, and accelerate into it.

Sit down when you feel you’re starting to lag, and drop a couple of gears. Spin (but still fast, IE about the same as your 2×20 minute level.)

Stay seated until you are breathing a little easier, then…

Out of the saddle, Attack! Hard like you did at the base of the climb.

Same as before, when you start to lag, sit down, spin.

Repeat to top of climb.

At the top of the climb, get out of the saddle, and accelerate as the grade eases. Power over the top and well into the descent, until your speed is great enough that coasting is faster than pedaling.

Coast/spin to bottom of climb.

Pedal at moderate intensity (IE – 2/3 of your 2×20 minute level,) for roughly double the amount of time it took to complete the entire climb.

Repeat 3-5 times.

That’s a set.

Spin easy for 5-10 minutes between sets.

You’re looking to do 3-5 sets.

Better to go shorter and harder than to extend the ride and slow things down.

Stuff...

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